Hail Hermes!

[badstar]

So...determined not to fall asleep again at eight o'clock, I decided to go in search of a grocery store- I wanted ice cream. found the grocery store, but by the time I got there, I changed my mind about the ice cream. It was a whole shopping center, so I wandered around a little into Petco and stuff, killing some time, then across the street, there was a Barnes and Noble, a Michael's and various other stores...nothing we don't have at home, but hey, it's time out of the hotel. After abouyt an hour of wandering through stores, I started making my way back to the hotel and was thirsty, so I stopped in the nearest convenience store and grabbed a drink. On a lark I asked the clerk for a $1 scratch off ticket...I won $6.
I took $5 plus one more ticket. I won $1 used that and bought another ticket, won $4
that one gave me a free ticket, which won me nothing so I quit there and left.

A little farther down the road, I felt pushed to another convenience store, I was like "Uh, no I'm not doing this" and I got a "Yes, you are." So I said fine, same as before, one $1 ticket, as soon as I don't win, I'm done. So I walked in, asked for a $1 ticket...won $4. Took $3 and another ticket...won $4. Took $3 and another ticket, won $2. Took $1 and another ticket, won a free ticket, the free ticket again won me nothing.

What's rather maddening though is that on each of the two losing tickets, I was one digit away from winning $21,000.

Ah well, can't complain, hail Hermes!

(It is worth noting, I've always at least gotten my money back each time I've bought a scratch-off ticket. So far I've won a few dollars in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Indiana, Texas and Colorado and I want to say Delaware, but I can't remember if I actually bought a ticket there once or just thought about it.)

Comments

[ravenshrinkery.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure that most losing tickets are "close" to a winning combination. It's the scratcher equivalent of bar-bar-lemon. I occasionally play, seeing the minute's amusement as a donation to the education coffers of the state, a tax on people who can't do math. The odd part is I've never played the lottery in any other state than NY.

The convenience store up the street (Stewart's) has its own farms so I get milk, cream, cottage cheese, and eggs from there on a regular basis. Otherwise, like every other convenience store, most of the money is made on beer, lottery, and cigarettes.

[fuego.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure that most losing tickets are "close" to a winning combination.

Same here. But it was the same ticket, same prize and exact same number combination each time. That little piece of paper was taunting me :-P

[theophania.livejournal.com]

I wish I could win on those. I love them but always need someone to read them to me and help me scratch off the stuff. Still, they're fun, especially around this time of year. Sounds like you had a great night.